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Oscar_Cunningham comments on The Fundamental Question - Less Wrong
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I think that what you do (and why you do it) follow your beliefs, and that's why interrogating beliefs is the more fundamental question.
For example, you might do 'X' because you believe 'X' matters, or, more meta -- and more fundamental -- you might believe that whether you do 'X' or not matters because you believe that what you do matters. This is only true within a particular belief structure.
The problem being that we often find ourselves doing things for reasons other than the ones we think we do. Robin Hanson will tell you that.
Why is this a problem? (Along the lines of, why do you need to accurately know the reasons why you do things?) I'm trying to relate. I see beliefs as something I need in order to decide what to do. As long as I'm doing what I decide to do, why would I worry about varied reasons for doing it?
One reason that comes to mind is that you might be avoiding something you should be doing.